To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." - Daniel 9:9

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sparrows

This morning I woke up to two little sparrows in my bird feeder. Cute as they were, this is not an unusual occurrance. There are frequently sparrows in my birdfeeder. Only my four year old gets excited about it. Excitement around here is when our resident pair of mourning doves comes to feed, or a robin gets daring enough to come eat. Blue jays, a woodpecker, and or the truly magical moment, when a cardinal comes...now that is excitement.

But lately I've been musing on sparrows more. They really are truly amazing. They are EVERYWHERE and there are so many of them! Yet are hardly noticable with their little brown feathers that blend into everything. I am sure they exist practically everywhere except at the Poles. We had them where I lived in the desert, and they are even chirping around on the warmer days of the Winter. I can't believe how tenacious these little cuties must be in the face of hardship.

The Bible even talks about them "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. (Luke 12:6)" They are only two cents for five because they are so plentiful, and they are still not worth much more than a little snack, and with their tendency to dare to go where food is available despite the risk, probably easy to catch. I doubt that there are many of us that would even consider eating them anymore, barring starvation. But I like looking at them as a reminder. They are common, all over the place, yet precious to God. Sometimes put on the earth to provide for our needs.

Often, I hear people say that it is not good to pray to win a soccer game or for various "little things in our life" because God cannot be bothered with such little things. Or they critique an athlete who points to God after they make a touchdown or a home run. The sparrows are a reminder to us that these people are just dead wrong. God cares about what someone else might determine as trivial. Sparrows seem to be nothing compared to some of the incredible birds that are out there. Yet God loves them and is keeping track of each one, just as He is the eagles and peacocks and cardinals. And He cares about how how much your 6 year old wants to win his soccer game or beat Tommy in a race just for once (whether He grants it or not). He cares about your clogged garbage disposal and how it is making you want to tear your hair out....just as much as he cares about whether a wildfire is approaching your house or whether the Queen of England is in mortal danger (it did say president, but I didn't want hits from the Secret Service). After all, He teaches us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread." And what is more basic than bread (and all it encompasses, the things we don't notice that He gives us each day)?

And besides, the sparrows would like the crumbs (so He uses us to provide for them, too!).